Device for decapping armor-piercing shells



T. J. TRESIDDER. DEVICE FOR DECAPPING ARMOR PIERCING SHELLS- APPLICATION -HLED NOV. 19, 1918.

1,385,897. Patented ly 26, 1921.

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DEVICE FOR DECAPPING ARMOR PIERCING SHELLS. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19, 1918.

1 ,385,897 Patented 2 21.

In (re/razor. Jain-:6 170 110 Fest'ddct' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DEVICE FOR DEGAPPING ARMOR-PIERCIN G SHELLS.

Application filed November 19, 1918.

(GRANTED UNDER THEPBOVISIONS OF THE ACT OF MARCH To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TOLMIE JOHN TRE- sronnn, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Trefusis, College Road, Upper Norwood, in the county of London, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Devices for Decapping Armor-Piercing Shells, (for which I have filed an application in England May 15, 1917, Patent N 0. 127,660,) of which the following is a specification.

The present superiority of attack over defense in the case of guns versus armor is largely due to the protection conferred upon the point of the shell by the cap attached to it for that purpose, and all attempts hitherto made to cause the cap to function prematurely by placing plates, or the like in front of the armor have failed because, if the plates, or the like, were in contact with the armor, although they might decap the shell, they also virtually recapped it most efliciently by their own substance, and, if not in contact with the armor, the plates, or the like, would have to be of prohibitive weight.

The object of my invention is to efiiciently protect hard-faced armor against modern capped armor-piercing shells, which I do by mounting close in front of the said armor (that is either in contact wit-h it, or nearly so) a comparatively light obstacle with interstices, retlculations, or spaces, in it, formed by crossing series or rods, bars, or strips and designed to decap attacking shells while owing to these interstices, reticulations, or spaces, the said obstacle will not provide the shell with an efficient substitute for the cap which it has displaced, and the point of the shell consequently protrudes unprotected from the deplaced cap at the moment of first impact with the hard face of the armor, which consequently at once shatters it and causes the whole projectile to be broken up without having been able to perform its designed function of carryingits bursting charge to the inside of the'armor and there detonating it.

y invention may be carried out, for example, by making the said obstacle in the form of a mat of woven steel wires, rods, or strips, hung, or otherwise fixed, or supported, in front ofthe armor, either in contact with it, or nearly so.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 26, 1921. Serial No. 263,215.

3, 1921, 41 STAT. L., 1313.)

Or the said obstacle may be made up of steel bars arranged parallel, or approx lmately parallel, to each other and suitably attached to the armor and crossed at right angles, or thereabo'ut, by similar, or equivalent, bars. also affixed to the armor and fastened, or not fastened, to the first named bars so as to form a grating with rectangular, or other suitably shaped interstices, reticulations, or spaces. If desired the said bars may be wholly, or partially, interlaced or interlocked, with each other instead of being simply superposed, or mounted, one upon another.

he accompanying drawings illustrate various forms, or constructions, of obstacles in accordance with my invention showing how it may be performed, but I do not limit myself to these precise examples. Neither do I limit myself to any particular way of supporting, or attaching, the said obstacles in their aforesaid protective positions, as this must depend upon the design and object of the particular structure to which they are to be applied.

Figure 1 illustrates the forward part of a capped shell (with the cap in section) such as devices in accordance with my invention are designed to decap. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line 1, 2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows in elevation and Fig. 4 in edge-view part of a device made of superposed bars in series at right angles to each other. It'also illustrates a way in which the devices can be affixed to the edges of the armor. F igs..5 and 6 show in elevation and in section (on the line 3, a, Fig. 5) means by which the devices can be aflixed to the face of the armor.

Figs. 7 and 8 represent, in elevation and transverse section respectively, a modification wherein the bars of one series are waved, and interlaced with another series of straight bars.

In Figs. 9 and 10 I have illustrated, in elevation and edge-view respectively, a way in' which the rods, or bars, can be built up upon the armor by being mounted in sup ports which are affixed to the armor, the rods, or bars, being crossed at right angles to each other but diagonally to the edges of the armor plate.

Referring toFigs. 1 and Q, the pointed end of the shell is marked a and the cap is provided on the cap 6, to reduce air-re sistance during the flight of the shell. The dot-and-pick lines, tive areas of the nose of the cap I), and the interstices, reticulations, or spaces, in the mats, or devices,

The device shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is made up of rods 6, held inholes in U-shaped, or channel bars 0 Over these rods 6, is arranged a transverse series of rods 7 held in holes in the channel bars f placed reversely to the channel-bars 6 Those of'the rods'@ and f, which are in thechannel-bars e and f pass through both sides of the channel bars and are provided with screwed projecting ends upon which nuts 6 and f are screwed, or the ends of these rods may be screw-tapped to receive screws with heads corresponding to the screwed nuts. The other rods 6 and f, are shown as passing through holes in the inner sides only of the channel-bars, so that the outer sides constitute stops for the said rods.

In these Figs. 3 and 4, the device is shown as being provided with'means of attachment to the armor which will. avoid making holes in the hardened face of the armor. For this purpose pieces of metal (preferably mild steel) 9, are riveted, or bolted, to the upper and lower channel bars 6 the said pieces g, beingprovided with holes 9 by which they can'be secured by screws, or rivets, to the edges of suitable parts and below, say to the roof, and floor, plates of turrets. 1 e

In Figs. 5 and 6, I have shown a'fastening which may be used at suitable intervals to afiix the devices to the face of armor. These fastenings each consist of a washer'h, grooved to receive two of the rods f, and secured by a screw 71, passed through a hole in the washer h, and screwed into a hole tapped into the armor. In this illustration the outermost rods 6 and f, are shown passing only through the inner sides of the channel-bars and fastened by nuts inside the said channel-bars, the corners of the channelbars overlapping and being secured by bolts and nuts 5 Figs. 7 and 8 show an arrangement wherein the rods 0, of one series are straight and the rods 7, of the other series, are waved and interlaced with the first named series somewhat after the manner of warp-and-weft in a woven fabric. The rods are held in holes in a frame formed of bars 6 and 1, which are connected at the corners by angle pieces and bolts and nuts Z0 ,v or rivets. Nuts screwed onto, or headed screws screwed into, the ends of any suitable number of the rods e and f, (on all of the sides of the device) as indicated at 6 parts of the frame together,instead of, or in at d, indicate the relaaccording to my invention.

plate of suitable thickness,

of the armor abovemay be used to securethe addition to, the corner pieces k, and bolts 7 ceive the ends of the rods of the two series '6 and f, the holes Z Z ,.being shown shouldered as at I, so as to act as stops for the rods. f

- As stated I do not limit myself to the particular details described with reference to these drawings, as it will be evident that they may be considerably varied without departing from the nature of my invention the essential in front of the armor as aforesaid, a comparatively light obstacle with interstices, reticulations orspaces, in it designed to decap attacking shells with, at least, the efficiency, in this respect, of a solid decapping while the interstices, reticulations,'or spaces prevent the obstacle from virtually recapping the shell, which recapping wouldtakeplace if, instead of a device according to my invention,"a solid plate wereemployed thatis a plate without interstices, reticulations, or spaces.

In order to save weight, the interstices, reticulations, or spaces, should be as largeas possible provided they be not so large as to allow the entry cap-proper of the shells, that'is to say, in the case of the so-called, hollow cap they must be less than the diameter which the nose I) of the cap has'at the forward part, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1' and 2. I-do not ,of course refer to the false nose or'light sheath 0, carried. in advance of the nose I) to reduceair resistance 7 Forthe purpose of decapping the shell according to my invention, it is not essential to make the obstacleof material'of the highest strength, but," as the obstacle necessarily presents extra thickness against perforation by the shell I prefer to I make the saidbbv stacle of steel of high tensile strength. 7 I

. vices in accordance with my invention so as to cover them. Such a plate is illustrated at m in Fig. 4.

Although, in

the foregoing description and in the following claims, I refe r to steel asbeing the metal used for my devices, and this is a material of obvious suitability, it is to be understood thatI do not necessarily object of which is to provide, close 7 thereinto of the nose of the in the shells flight.

limit myself to the use of steel if other metal or alloy should prove useful for the purpose of making devices in accordance with my invention.

I am aware that it has been proposed to hang, in front of armor plates, screens of a nature, among others, akin to those herein described, the avowed purpose of this proposed arrangement having been to cause the longitudinal axis of the projectile to be thrown out of coincidence with its trajectorial line by the unequal resistance of the perforated and unperforated parts of the screen, so that, after passing through the said screen, the projectile would strike the armor otherwise than directly with its point, and be thereby made less efiicient for perforation. To achieve this object it was, and was specified to be, absolutely essential to ave a very considerable space between the screen and the armor (stated to be about thirty inches in the case of a rifle bullet and to be proportionately increased for larger projectiles) and I make no claim to such arrangement, which moreover, is not permissible in the carrying out of my invention as my invention depends for its success upon the armor so closely supporting the obstacle that the latter cannot be perforated separately, as it has to be in order to give effect to the aforesaid previous proposal.

I am also aware that it has been proposed to form armor-plates with ribbed, corrugated, or indented, surfaces, generally with the idea that these would tend to better break up uncapped projectiles, althou h a suggestion has been made that such sur aces might tend to break up the caps of capped projectiles. Even if such would be the case, however, the cost, and difiiculties, of production of such plates would be prohibitive and I make no claim to such plates, my invention not relating to the formation of armor plates, but to the provision of separate attached means for the protection of ordinary hard-faced armor-plates such as are at present used in all the navies of the world.

What I claim is 1. In a protective device, the combination of a face hardened plate of armor and a shell-decapping device secured over the face of said armor plate, said decapping device being of Very tough and strong metal and being in the form of lattice work.

2. In a protective device, the combination of a face hardened plate of armor and a shell-decapping device secured over the face of said armor plate, said decapping device being of metal tougher than the face of said armor plate and being in the form of lattice work.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

TOLMIE JOHN TRESIDDERI Witnesses:

G. F. TYSON, Enwn. GEO. DAVIES. 

